In diesel engines, especially the large engines utilized in locomotive engines for railroads, the engine block has a series of bores forming the cylinders in the engine adapted to receive the reciprocatory pistons operatively connected to the crankshaft. As the engines increase in size, the bores for the cylinders become less accurate in the machining of parts of this size, and it has become necessary to provide a cylinder liner in the bore to provide the finished interior surface within which the piston reciprocates during the combustion cycle to provide rotation of the crankshaft. Such a liner is suitably secured to a cylinder head that is mounted on the engine block, which whole assembly is secured to the block by crab blocks. A bore is machined into the block with sufficient clearance for assembly. Thus, the cylinder liners can and do have oscillating movement during operation of the engine.
The problem with the use of clyinder liners is that there is no presently known method of firmly and accurately holding the inner edge of a cylinder liner in the bore of a large engine block. The problem arises and is caused by the forces occurring during the reciprocating movement of the piston pivotally mounted on a connecting rod, which in turn is operatively connected to an offset portion of a rotating crankshaft. The thrust of the crankshaft or piston during its reciprocation in the cylinder liner also produces side-to-side forces acting on the cylinder liner and the cylinder head which results in failure of the top flange of the cylinder head or the block immediately surrounding the head. Because of the necessary clearances and tolerances involved in the cylinder bore, the cylinder liner and any insert, a constant working motion on the liner is observed due to the side thrust caused by the crankshaft. The present invention provides an alignment and retaining arrangement to ameliorate this problem.